Those Who Rebel Against Fate
by RedTailedHawke
Summary: In the three years since the war ended, the Warriors of Light have made lives for themselves in the handful of worlds not consumed by darkness. While opposing dark forces wage all-out war for supremacy, rumors begin circulating about the appearance of new Dark Keybearers. Around the same time, an amnesiac stranger crash-lands in Twilight Town...(Rated M to be on the safe side)
1. Thinking of You, Whoever You Are

**Kingdom Hearts fanfic time! I've enjoyed this series from the start (after a bit of skepticism before I played it) and always had ideas for fanfics. Since it'll be a while before KHIII comes out (HURRY UP!) I'll just have fun with this now.**

***Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters, or any related material. All credit belongs to Square Enix and Disney.**

Chapter 1: Thinking of You, Whoever You Are

_A dark beach. A perpetual night sky. A stagnant moon._

_Arms wrapped around her shoulders, holding her tightly._

"_What will happen to us? I mean, if we reach the other side?"_

_A chuckle from behind her. "_When_ we reach the other side, m'lady, I'm sure that life will be just as grand as it was when we left it."_

_She couldn't help but giggle at his sarcasm. "I'm sure it will be. But..." the smile left her lips, "will we remember our time here? Will we remember each other?"_

_Silence. Then, her gaze was turned to face him, his eyes strangely comforting. "I don't know about our memories, but I do know that my heart will never forget you. It can't."_

_She smiled at that, a warmth spreading from her chest...right where her heart was. "Mine will never forget you, either. That's a promise."_

_His smile matched hers, then he whispered, "A promise indeed, Aqua..." his voice echoed, seemingly chanting her name as his face inched closer to hers, their lips just ghosting against each other..._

"Aqua!"

With a gasp, Aqua was jolted back into reality. Her eyes flew open and her limbs flailed out, eventually landing her on the floor on all fours. She glared at the doorway, where a startled Ventus stood, already taking a step back.

"What, Ven, WHAT?!" she yelled, not caring who she woke up. Her blue hair was a disheveled mess, her eyes seemed to be literally ablaze with anger, and she was breathing hard, definitely giving her an appearance of a predator about to rip its prey to pieces.

The young Keybearer took another shaky step back as he held up his hands. "M-Master Yen Sid summoned us to the Tower, s-s-something important—"

Aqua clenched her teeth as she clamped her eyes shut, determined to _not _break her friend in half. "Tell Master that we'll be there soon, alright?" she ground out. "And wake up Lea while you're at it!" The footsteps tearing down the hall at mach-speed was all the indication that she needed that her point was _very _well made.

It wasn't Ven's fault, really, it was hers. She'd been on edge a lot over the past three years, and it wasn't often that she got a peaceful night's sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she either had a nightmare about the war, a flashback to before she fell into the Dark Realm, or—like tonight—a dream about _that_ guy.

Who he was, Aqua had no clue. She recognized the scene as the Dark Shores—the name she'd given the beach she often walked down during her time in the Realm of Darkness—but she didn't recognize the face that had appeared before her. He'd been showing up a lot of dreams lately, though—sometimes they were battling hordes of Heartless together; in some, they were sparring together; in some, like the one she'd been rudely awakened from, they were just...together. Holding each other.

Happy.

Aqua sat back on her heels and dropped her face in her hands, as if to block out the world for just a moment. _Who...are you?_ she mentally asked the image of the man as it faded from her mind, just like it did every time. If his face wouldn't stay in her memory, then how would she ever—

Her musings were cut short by a loud crash, followed by several shouts of anger and surprise. She looked up just in time to see Ven race past her doorway, a terrified look on his face and a fire on his backside. Following shortly behind him was a very angry-looking Lea, his face contorted into a snarl as he hurled threats and fireballs down the hall.

"I swear, if you wake me up while I'm in the middle of banging Tifa _one more time_, I'll turn your head into a fuckin' menorah! Got it memorized?!"

"ACK! Jeez, Lea, I didn't need to hear—YOW!"

"Hah! Maybe now you'll stop being such a cock-block!"

"Maybe _you'll_ stop being such a pussy-foot and actually ask a real girl out instead of just fantasizing about them!"

"Why you—I'MA KILL YA, RUNT! GET BACK HERE!" Their pounding footsteps faded down the hallway, the sound replaced by Aqua's laughter.

It was moments like this that kept her going. Her friends' antics never ceased to amuse her, even in a time where there wasn't much to smile about. Whenever she was feeling down, she could always count on Lea to torch Ven, or Terra tripping over Roxas (who had made it a point to walk in front of him now, just out of spite) or for Naminé and Xion to start a pillow fight in the middle of the common area for no reason whatsoever.

With a smile on her face, Aqua stood and headed for her bathroom. Maybe a shower would help put her in a better frame of mind before she headed to the Mysterious Tower.

_A nice, _cold_ shower..._

**-K-H-**

The old wizard had seen much over his many long years. He'd seen the birth and death of dozens of worlds, the coming and going of many rulers, and the rise and fall of other Keyblade Masters.

He'd also seen unbearable loss.

But right now, his old eyes watched over a small, makeshift arena where two young warriors crossed blades. It was part of a regular sparring regiment that all of the Keybearers underwent to improve their reaction times, their technique—

"Resorting to two already, Pintsize? You must be getting rusty!"

"Can it, ya monolith! You're getting slower by the day! Age finally catching up to you?"

—and their insults.

Yen Sid could only smirk as Terra and Roxas traded banter equally with blows. The former Nobody had challenged the older warrior to a duel to pass the time as they waited for the others to arrive. He was starting to get reacquainted with using two Keyblades—Maverick Flare and Abyssal Tide, from his days in the Organization—after training with only one for some time. How Roxas could wield two Keyblades was still a mystery: previously, he wielded Xion's in addition to his own after her destruction, but now that Kairi and Naminé's "sister" had been alive and well for just over three years, much speculation had arisen. Many guessed that it was simply Roxas' memories that allowed him to conjure a second blade; others, such as Yen Sid, suspected that something else was involved.

"Did you sleep well, Master Riku?" Yen Sid asked, not needing to face the balcony's new occupant to know who it was.

The footsteps never faltered as the youth stood beside him. "I did, Master. Better than I had in quite some time."

Yen Sid smiled. "That's good to hear. How are your eyes?" He turned to face Riku just as the boy's hands went around his head, tying a black strip of cloth over his eyes.

"The fairies' healing seems to be doing its job. I still can't leave the blindfold off for long periods of time, but I can start to make out shapes and colors. Naminé is helping me remember what things look like so that I won't have to spend so much time recovering."

"Even more good news!" Yen Sid exclaimed.

A chuckle from the Warrior of Shadows. "Yeah, Flora says I should have perfect vision within the next few weeks."

Both men startled as a loud crash resounded through the room. "What happened?" Riku barked.

"I didn't mean to hit him that hard, really!" came the sheepish reply from below. "I thought he could take a hit better than that!"

Yen Sid sighed. "Terra, are you alright?"

The brunette struggled to worm his way out of the Terra-shaped hole in the wall. "Y...yeah, I'm good!" he shouted as he broke through the stone fragments and dropped to the floor. "My pride took a harder blow than my body."

"Let this be a lesson in humility, Terra. Never underestimate your opponent just because he is smaller than you." Yen Sid's sagacious advice lost some of its purpose as Riku's uncontrollable laughter suddenly burst out from the balcony.

Terra growled in the back of his throat as he glared up at the balcony. "What's so damn funny, Blindfold?" he barked.

The insult seemed to be lost on Riku, who was wheezing as he tried to regain his breath. "It...*wheeze*...it's just...*hahah!*...Roxas is so tiny compared...*snort*...and yet he..." The gasping sentences dissolved into another fit of hysterical laughter, doubling Riku over as he clutched his sides.

"Nngh...laugh it up, Banzai," Terra muttered as he propped his Keyblade on his shoulders. "Let me know when the others get here, Roxas."

"U-uh, okay," Roxas replied weakly as he banished his own blades. He could only watch as the taller man marched out of the room, truly terrified to say anything else to him. _Hopefully he'll feel better once the others show up..._

After a few more seconds, Riku finally regained his composure and his breath, but the smirk stayed plastered to his face. "Hoooh, man. That's pretty funny."

Yen Sid simply stared at the young Keyblade Master, his face not registering any identifiable emotion. Without a word or a sound, the wizard turned about and walked back towards his chamber. Roxas made a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a sigh as he walked out of the arena back to his own room, leaving a blindfolded Riku alone on the balcony.

"Uh...guys?" Riku called out when he didn't hear any sound at all. "Roxas? Master Yen Sid? ...Anyone?" His only response was silence. "Heh...everyone's leaving me behind again," he mused to himself. His smile diminished until there wasn't a trace of it anywhere on his face. "It makes me wonder..."

Reaching around his head, he untied the blindfold, holding it loosely in one hand as he took a few experimental blinks. Once the world came into focus, he looked up towards the glass ceiling, his gaze finding the single solitary star in the night sky.

"...why did I receive the title of Master while you never did?"


	2. Oops, Gravity Works

**ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING! Between working full-time, PLUS anticipating a new job in HAWAII (*cough* Ehm...sorry, excitement) new chapters may take a bit longer than...expected? Anyway, the story will start introducing OC's (spoiler alert, there will likely only be 4 by the time all's said and done)**

***Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters, or any related material. All credit belongs to Square Enix and Disney.**

Chapter 2: Oops, Gravity Works

Darkness. Somehow, it felt familiar, reassuring. Hell, even comforting. _The pain, I could do without_, he mused. It seemed like there wasn't a square inch of his body that didn't ache, but most of it seemed focused on his head, which throbbed painfully with each beat of his heart. _Wait, heartbeat...that means that I'm-_

When he shook his head to try and clear the fog in his mind, he immediately wished that he hadn't. The pain exploded, causing him to shoot up into a seated position, his eyes to fly open and his teeth to clench as he tried to suppress a howl of agony.

"Whoa, easy there, Killer. You took a pretty nasty knock to the head when you landed."

The disembodied voice was soft, somehow putting him more at ease. He looked around the room as the blob of colors began to actually take shape. The room was mostly an earthy orange-brown, with a few darker spots here and there—different pieces of furniture, no doubt. He was covered by a puddle of red, too silky smooth to be blood, so he assumed that they were sheets of some kind.

But one black blob situated at the foot of the—he assumed—bed caught his attention. _Heartless! _was his first thought as an image of a black ant-like creature with glowing yellow eyes popped into his head. But as the black blob took shape, he surmised that this couldn't be the same thing. The creature in his head didn't have long raven hair...or dark red eyes...or a large pair of—

"You okay there?" the voice asked again.

He quickly shook his head, the pain surprisingly not nearly as severe as it had been. "Y-yeah," he stammered. _Is my face turning red? I bet it is...shit._ To distract himself, he looked around the room to get a better idea of his surroundings. Now that the blurriness was gone, he could make out a desk, a small lamp, a dresser, a clock, a large chest—

"Where am I?" he asked, his eyes once again darting away in embarrassment.

The woman in black giggled softly at his obvious awkwardness. "You're in Twilight Town. This is my house."

"Twilight Town? Never heard of this world before..." He began to shift onto his elbows when the sheet covering him slid down an inch or so, revealing the upper half of his torso. His _bare_ torso. A quick inspection revealed that in addition to having no shirt on, he didn't have pants on, either.

Or underwear.

"W-w-what the hell?! Why am I naked?!" he shouted as his ears seemed to set themselves ablaze.

The woman held up her hands, as if to absolve herself of any guilt. "Hey, you crashed into the square like that! Luckily you found a clothesline on the way down and took somebody's sheet with you, so you were covered when you landed...mostly." When his eyes shot up to hers, she waved her hands back and forth as her own cheeks took on a pink tint. "B-but I didn't see anything embarrassing I mean a guy like you has nothing to be embarrassed about by the way did you know that your butt is really—"

"Tifa! I think the poor guy's head's gonna implode!"

Tifa nearly leaped out of her chair at the sound of the new voice. She looked to the open window to see a petite figure with a long narrow ponytail hanging upside down from the awning. "Yuffie! What'd I tell you about sneaking up like that!"

The newcomer just laughed. "I'm a ninja, it's what I do! Deal with it!" Yuffie flipped over and landed on the windowsill, seated like a frog. "Besides, I came by to check on our new—" her voice trailed off as she looked over to the bed, "—guest?"

When Tifa followed Yuffie's confused gaze, she realized that the bed was now empty, and the sheets were completely disheveled. "Wha—? Where'd he go?" As if to answer her question, a bit of dust fell from the ceiling. The two women followed it to a spread-eagle man-shaped hole in the ceiling, right above the bed. "Hey!" Tifa called to the hole. "You okay?"

The muffled reply came, "Y-yeah, I'll be fine...once I can dig this rafter out of my spine..."

**-K-H-**

'Twas a night like any other, and all through The Castle That Never Was, not a soul was stirring—except for one that had taken to meandering around the Gray Room as he read a book. This sole soul was Ansem the Wise, former ruler of Radiant Garden and now-chief scientist for the Exiles—as the band of survivors had taken to calling themselves. Day and night, he pored through terabytes of data and mountains of paper, whether searching for a new power source, solving mysteries of the heart, or even ensuring that the Void Lock stayed intact. After all, all were vital to their continued existence.

But this night was different; Ienzo had volunteered to dive through the data instead so that Ansem could have a night to relax—something that he hadn't done in far too long. So with only the pages of _The Once and Future King_ to accompany him, the aging scientist lost himself in the story, forgetting all of the troubles that they were swamped in.

"Just for one evening, Master," Ienzo had practically pleaded.

A smile tugged at the corner of Ansem's mouth as he looked out the floor-to-ceiling window. _To think, not four years ago my pupils were the source of my hatred. Now, they are my greatest allies._ _Were our situation not so dire, this reversal of fortune would almost be...humorous._

With a sigh, Ansem turned back to the worn pages of the book, finding where he left off and continuing to read—

"Master! Master Ansem!"

The book was nearly dropped in surprise, but Ansem managed to keep a hold of it as he spun around towards the source of the panicked call. Ienzo braced himself on the doorway as he struggled to control his erratic breathing.

"Ienzo? What's the matter?" Ansem asked, unable to keep the concern from his voice. As he had specifically asked to not be disturbed this night, something must truly be amiss for his youngest pupil to barge in like this.

With a gulping breath, Ienzo straightened his posture and cleared his throat. "Master, there's *cough* been an occurrence. An anomaly was detected just above Twilight Town."

The master's amber eyes widened. "What kind of anomaly?"

"An energy spike, manifesting itself in what seemed to be a comet. It *inhale* headed straight for the surface and landed in the market square."

"Was it hostile?"

Ienzo's long bangs swayed to and fro as he shook his head. "Unsure, Master. It didn't seem to be aimed at anything in particular so much as it just...dropped."

Ansem stroked his graying beard, puzzled. "Did the spike simply appear out of nowhere?"

"Yes, Master. There was no indication or warning that it would happen. I did notice something peculiar, though..."

"Yes?"

The young man seemed hesitant to continue, his blue eyes shifting from Ansem to the floor and back. "The energy that came out of the anomaly...it..."

**-K-H-**

After some creative interior renovation and strategic placement of sheets, Yuffie and Tifa had managed to get their visitor down from the hole in the ceiling. After clearing the debris from his hair, Yuffie had promptly shoved him into the bathroom to wash off.

Closing the door behind him, the ninja brushed her hands free of dust, her trademark grin on her face. "There, that wasn't so bad!"

Tifa didn't dare glance at the enlarged hole in her ceiling. It promised to be a nightmare to try and fix. "Says the one who stood there and shouted orders the whole time," she grumbled.

"Hey!" Yuffie protested. "Somebody had to supervise, right? I mean, you didn't really need my help to punch more holes in the ceiling so that we could get him out!"

Tifa sighed as she dropped her hands to her sides in surrender. "Can you at least help me find some decent clothes for him? We can't have him parading around Twilight Town in nothing but a sheet."

"I dunno..." Yuffie trailed off as her eyes wandered back to the bathroom door. "He did have a really nice ass..."

"Yeah, that you kept staring at the whole time I was breaking him out! Why do you think I put the sheet up there?"

"Uhh...landing pad?"

It was as if Tifa's hand possessed a mind of its own as it slapped itself against her forehead. "Gah...you're hopeless." Refusing to further entertain Yuffie's supreme diztiness, she walked over the wardrobe and opened the double doors. _Hopefully somebody left some clothes here...I bet Cid has some pants or something—"_Oh!"

A head propped itself on her shoulder as Yuffie nosed in. "Ooh, ooh! What'cha find?"

Tifa held up a black duffel bag emblazoned with a silver lion's head on the side. "Looks like Leon left something behind," she said with a smirk.

**-K-H-**

"You sure this is the only thing you could find?" the man called out as he studied himself in the mirror.

"It's just something for you to wear until we can take you to the market and get you something else!" came Tifa's response from the other side of the bedroom door. The women had gone into the hallway while he dressed, giving him some much-appreciated privacy. "You'll be fine!"

He grimaced at his reflection. It wasn't that he was ungrateful for the clothes—far from it, he was extremely grateful for everything they'd done for him so far—but...

"It's a little tight around the chest. And the thighs...and the arms...and everything else."

The all-black leather outfit was indeed about two sizes too small. He felt as though he'd rip the jacket in twain if he so much as sneezed.

"Well, the sooner you finish, the sooner we can get to the market!" Yuffie's voice scolded.

With a sigh, he walked to the bedroom door and opened it. "I just wish it—"

Before he could even open the door all of the way, Tifa and Yuffie burst out into a fit of laughter. Yuffie fell right to the floor as she clutched her side with one hand and pointed at him with the other. "Holy shit!" she coughed out. "You look like a streetlamp!"

Tifa wasn't faring much better in the laughter-restraint department. "Yuffie, be ni—hahahah!"

He was sure that his ears were smoking from the embarrassment. "Can we just go?" he sheepishly asked as he rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. "The sooner I can get out of this cowhide, the better..."

A hand rested on his shoulder as Tifa's red eyes, shining with tears, met with his dark blues. "Hun, we're not laughing at you out of malice. We just never realized just how rail-thin our friend is. Now come on, let's head to Market Square and get you something a little more..." she gave him a quick up-down, "...your size, shall we?"

"Please, let's," he mumbled.

With that, Tifa bent down, hoisted the still-giggling Yuffie over her shoulders, and marched out the door, the visitor following closely behind.

**A/N: Holy crap, this story's moving slowly. But never fear! This is all just introduction! The story will pick up the pace soon, I swear!**

**Visitor: They don't even know my name yet, dingbat!**

**Red: Ehm...sorry?**

**Visitor: Do _you _even know my name?!**

**Red: OF COURSE I DO, TWAT-CANNON! I CREATED YOU!**

**Visitor: ...and? Your point?**


End file.
